FED-UP producers calling for a bounty on foxes in NSW have been shot down by the state government.
A petition calling for the government to introduce a fox bounty was signed by almost 2000 people and lodged in the Legislative Assembly last week by Member for Lismore Thomas George.
Bounty supporters want to see a system similar to Victoria's, which offers $10 for each fox scalp handed in to collection centres.
More than 394,000 scalps have been collected since the bounty began in late 2011 and the Victorian government renewed its support and committed $1 million dollars to its fox bounty for the 2015-16 financial year.
However, NSW Primary Industries Minister Niall Blair ruled out a bounty.
"An evaluation of the 2002 Victorian fox bounty trial concluded bounties had no effective impact on local fox populations, had a number of serious inherent problems and recommended that bounties not be continued," Mr Blair said.
"To further strengthen our management of foxes and all vertebrate pests, the NSW government, in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with NSW Farmers, has committed to conducting a statewide review of pest management."
The terms of reference of the MoU were being considered, he said.
The government is due to provide a response to the petition by July 29 - the petition was launched by the Fire Arm Safety and Training Council.
Council chief executive Gary Bryant said fox numbers were creating havoc because the government's reliance on baiting wasn't working.
"Baiting clearly isn't solving the problem and we believe firearms are needed to complement existing efforts," Mr Bryant said.
